Chasing the scent of Love, Truth, Beauty, and Mirth, wherever it may lead.

Thursday, February 27, 2014

Outgrowing Things

Sex,
Love, and Humanity’s Future

Lovers' Tomb

There’s
a passage in Book I of Plato’s Republic where Cephalus, a 70-year-old member of
Socrates’ circle, weighs in on the subject of sexual love. He says he agrees
with the tragedian, Sophocles. He’s glad he’s over the affliction.

My
mother was always pushing me to read Plato, and I did oblige her with a few of
the Dialogues, but I resisted The Republic until college, when I had to read
it. For some reason Cephalus’ speech stayed with me more than most. Maybe I
stored it up for the time when I might be seventy. I could always have it at
the back of my mind to console me whenever I fell into the love sickness. There
is relief—if I can just live long enough.

Well,
today’s 70 is yesterday’s 50, they say, and I haven’t outgrown sex yet and
doubt I ever will, if only in my eye.

But
you never know. I’ve outgrown other serious afflictions I don’t think I’ll go
back to, and I’m sure I’m not alone. I’ve outgrown my bad tempers, including
the secret rage that wanted to murder my father. That’s a big one. Another
was my adolescent confusion between lust and love. It took me more than half a
lifetime to get that straight. I think it might have been a prime life lesson.
Love is much more than lust and worth more, too, in the end.

I
should have posted that for Valentine’s Day. But isn’t love a year-round thing?
Astrologer Jeff Jawer at StarIQ.com pointed out recently that Valentine’s Day,
always in the sign of Aquarius, comes in a season which is really not that favorable
for romantic love. Romantic love is more a Leo thing, the sign opposite Aquarius. Love of friends, love of knowledge and humanitarian ideals
is what winter and Aquarius are more about, at least in the northern
hemisphere. (Whether that model fits the southern hemisphere is another
question.)

That
larger love, that humanitarian love is not as sexy as the lovers entwined in
their Valentine’s kiss. They take center stage. Indeed, no theory of love can
push them out. Love and marriage, then the baby carriage—it’s part of the
American myth.

But
it’s also part of the beginning of all that love can be—selfless and forgiving,
extending beyond marriage and the baby carriage to a wider world.

That
wider world now beckons us in this 21st century. How do we respond? I fear that
humanity as we know it is screwed unless love in all its forms consumes our
highest hopes. But we’re not there yet. We must reach for it. Otherwise, we
will either destroy ourselves or we will become a high-tech dictatorship in
which many of us will die.

Such
thoughts disturb my sleep of late. I’ve always had them, but now they seem more
immediate and all-consuming. I keep telling myself, “I must do something, I
must do something.” But every option only seems to prolong the game. Working
for the poor has become a for-profit industry dependent on people staying poor.
Fighting for peace is an oxymoron. Demanding good behavior tempts evil. Where
do we begin to correct such errors?

It’s
hardly a new idea, but clearly love is the answer. Love dissolves the paradox
of opposites because, fortunately, love is only interested in itself.

1 Comments:

D. This is a great topic for discussion and I hope this blog post gets a dialog going. I also have those “I must do something”. thoughts. I really like your line “Fighting for peace is an oxymoron.” Sooo true. It is one of the reasons I do not go protest anymore. Along with being too old and tired and leaving it to the younger set. But there is also that “fighting” aspect that just does not feel right anymore. I am sharing this post. Your a wonder and always speak my mind for me! Thanks! :)